You think Shields wouldn't look out of place fighting either Anderson Silva or GSP?

Shields' fight against Mayhem actually very closely resembled GSP's. They both dominated positionally, though unable to finish, and were caught in very close submissions.

Given that Shields beat Okami, who until recently was a top contender for the belt at 185, it's hard to argue he'd be lost in that division. Though I think he'd lose to Silva (he's pretty undersized at middleweight) excellent wrestling, Jiu Jitsu and no inclination to 'stand and bang' whatsoever make him a worse match up for Anderson than almost all of the UFC's current 185 division.

Shields' fight against Mayhem actually very closely resembled GSP's. They both dominated positionally, though unable to finish, and were caught in very close submissions.

Given that Shields beat Okami, who until recently was a top contender for the belt at 185, it's hard to argue he'd be lost in that division. Though I think he'd lose to Silva (he's pretty undersized at middleweight) excellent wrestling, Jiu Jitsu and no inclination to 'stand and bang' whatsoever make him a worse match up for Anderson than almost all of the UFC's current 185 division.

Mayhem fought GSP over 4 years ago though. GSP isn't even close to the same fighter as he was then, so it's tough to use that fight as a measuring stick. Everything about his game has improved dramatically since then.

As for the Okami fight, I'd say that's probably an example of styles making fights. Okami is a wrestler with good GnP, but Shields is a much better wrestler. Okami's last fight showed that paired against a better wrestler his game suffers dramatically. Shield's problem in the UFC MW division wouldn't be one of ability so much as size though IMO.

It is kind of funny that people are talking about Daley as some legitimate threat in the UFC but Shields submitted him with a one-arm mounted guillotine.

Nick Thompson got subbed with the one-arm Guillotine; Daley got armbarred in the second round after Shields made a sloppy attempt in the first and got reversed.

Daley is a legitimate mid-card threat in the UFC because his wrestling isn't awful and he's not completely helpless on the ground, and he's very dangerous standing up. The top tier will still wrestle him furiously, however, and he's no real threat to GSP. Shields is even less of a threat to GSP because his wrestling and top game are the only things he has, and his wrestling isn't good enough. It would look like GSP/Hughes, essentially - Shields has just as little standup as Hughes, a basically equivalent bottom game, and I don't think he's a significantly better wrestler. He has a better top game than Hughes but against GSP that's basically irrelevant.

He also submitted Lawler, quickly, who many were contending would do well at 185 in the UFC (which I would disagree with).

Anyone contending Lawler would do well at 185 in the UFC is dumb enough to be excluded from discussion.

Let me clarify. Shields would likely be destroyed by GSP. He's not physical enough to hang with him. But I don't have any problem putting him above guys like Swick and Kampmann, both of him are, or were, supposedly next in line for the title. And if the UFC did sign Shields do you have any doubt that he'd get fast tracked to a title shot?